TORQ! is a conceptual and practical framework for approaching artworks as structured epistemic acts: not merely expressions, but constructions that can be described, tested, and refined. It proposes that an artwork gains intelligibility through what it permits, what it forbids, and what remains stable while it unfolds. TORQ! is presented as a framework for inquiry rather than an artistic style.
3 questions
What does the work measure (what aspect of reality does it make legible)?
What are its constraints (the boundaries that create form and resolution)?
What is its identity (the invariant that holds across time, variation, and interpretation)?
Core ideas
- An artwork can be treated as a coherent system, not only as a subjective statement.
- Form emerges from constraint: limits are productive, not restrictive.
- Meaning is shaped by operations and syntax—how elements are arranged and transformed.
- Identity is not decoration; it is the stable core that survives change and iteration.
- Rigor does not eliminate poetry; it protects it from dissolving into arbitrariness.
- Different media are different measurement channels: each one makes some relations visible and others invisible.
A simple mapping
Material → Operations → Limit/Rule → Invariant → Time → Mapping (detail ↔ whole).
How to use TORQ!
Read it as a lens for making and evaluating work: describe the system first, then test whether the work remains coherent under its own rules. If you want the full formal structure, request the manuscript or the forthcoming publication.